Railway-gate.



W. E. GEDDES.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED IBB.1'7, 1910. 977,001 Patented N0v 29, 1910.

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W. E. GEDDE RAILWAY GATE. APPLICATION FILED 313.17, 1910.

Patented Nov. 29, 1910. v

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- W. E. GEDDE S. RAILWAY GATE.

- APPLIOATION FILED FEB.17,191-0. 977,001

Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

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llll'lE El? WILLIAM E. GEDDES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY- GATE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. GEDDEs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway gates and has for itsobject the production of a gate of this character which shall be closedand opened automatically by a moving train before and after a crossingrespectively.

A further object of my invention is to provide a railway gate whichshall be ineX pensive of manufacture and efficient in its operation.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

With these objects in View my invention consists in the novelconstruction and arrangement of parts which shall be hereinafter fullydescribed and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specificatio-n, and inwhich,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a railway and my improved railway gatein its preferred form, F 2 is a top plan view of a double track railwayshowing the car-wheeloperated devices which control the operation of thegate mechanism, Fig. 3 is a detail view showing one of said devicestaken on line of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the gatemechanism, Fig. 5 is an end elevation, Fig. 6 is a top plan view, andFig. 7 is a vertical section taken on line ma: of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings 1 designates track No. 1 and 2 track No.2, and trains run thereover as indicated. Each car-wheel-operated devicecomprises a shoe 3 pivoted to the side of a rail as shown in detail inFig. 3. A perforated lug 4 projects from the side of the shoe 3 and towhich a link 5 is pivoted at its upper extremity.

The bell-crank lever 6 pivoted as at- 7 to a Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed February 17, 1910.

Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

Serial No. 544,349.

Fig. 3. To limit the upward movement of the shoe 3 a screw head 12 and aspring 13 is provided, the latter surrounding the screw. The wires 11have bell-crank connection to the wires 14 and 15 which lead to thegate-operating mechanism, the wires 14 connecting with the rods 14 and14 and the wires 15 with the rods 15 and 15". The gate-operatingmechanism is provided with a housing 16, and to said mechanism isconnected the gate arm 17, shown in Fig. 1, the dotted lines thereinindicating the vertical or open position. An adjustable weight 18 ismounted on the gate 17 and is held in any desired position thereon bymeans of a set-screw 19, a stop 20 being provided to limit the movementof said gate.

21 designates the main frame of the gateoperating mechanism and 22collars secured to the rods 14, 15, 14 and 15 and serve to react on thecompression springs 23 surrounding said rods. To the inner end of saidrods are pivoted bell-cranks 24 which in turn are pivoted to thesupports 25. provided in the main frame 21.

One arm of the bell-cranks 24 is pivoted to vertically disposed pawls 26by means of the screws 27, springs 28 secured to the main frame 21 beingprovided to maintain said pawls in normal engagement with the ratchetteeth 29 provided in the periphery of the oscillatory member 30. Theoscillatory member 30 is secured to the shaft 31 which is journaled inthe main frame. Teeth 32 are provided in the oscillatory member 30 andwith which the spur gear 33 meshes, the latter being secured to theshaft 34 journaled in the main frame 21 in a manner similar to the shaft31. Squared portions 35 are provided at each end of the shaft 34 inorder that the gate members 17 may be rigidly secured thereto. Looselymounted on the shaft 34 is a sector-shaped weight 36 the movement ofwhich is limited by radial arms 37 and 38 which are secured to the shaft34, the object of said weight being to hold the gate member 17 morepositively in either the closed or open position. Pins 39 and 40projecting laterally from the oscillatory member 36 engage respectivelythe arms 37 and 38 for obvious reasons.

The gate arm 17 in Fig. 4 is shown in closed position and the pawl 26connected with a rod 14 leading from track No. 2 is in a position readytoopen: said; gate arm whenatrain. running on track No.2 actuates one ofthe car-wheel-operated devices provided thereon. downwardly as eachwheel passes shoe 3 and will rotate the oscillatory member. 30; the

closing of the gate arm l7 the, short arm 43 was moved to the positionas shown in Fig. 7,hencethe pawl 41 will} be in the proper position toperform its function; The arm 43 is frictionally pivoted on the screw 44in such a manner-thatit will remain in any position after being moved.The spring 45 is secured rigidly to one end of the arm 43 and is adaptedto pressthe'pawlsadapted to engage the ratchet wheel 42- into engage.-ment therewith. When the gate. is being closed the ratchet Wheel 42 willrotate the reverse direction and; during this time the stop pawl 4 6will engage the teeth of said ratchet wheel sin-cethe pin 4:7 will ceaseto act; on the arm 43} and the pin'LS' will act on the-same tocausethenecessary rotation.

The arm 43 moves the pawl's- 4:1- and; 46- by means of pins 439-projectinglaterally therefrom. The oscillatory member 30; will continueto rotatefor openin the gate arm 17 until pawls 26 engaging t e lever50? which isprovided with the-slot 51- stops suchmovement; To; saidlevera transverse wire 52 is soldered, which wire engages the arm 53.The arm 53 is pivoted to the main frame as at 5% and is provided with anotch 55 adapted toengage the wire; 52. Securedin the periphery of theoscillatory member 30' is an obliquely disposed pin 56 the-point ofwhich is adapted to engage the point of the arm 53 after the gate hasbeen fully opened. This causes the arm 53 to rise which causes thenotclr55 to disengage the wire 52, thus allowing the springs 28- to force thepawls 26 totheir engaging-positionfor closing the gate. The peripheralproj ection 57 provided in the oscillatory member 30* adapted to contactwith the lever 50; "for forcing the pawls26 into their inoperativeposition after the gate is closed; and the projections 58 secured to theside ofi' said member are adapted to=en gage the levers 59 and to pressthe same outwardly, said levers being provided with a stopshoe' 60adapted to engage the periphery of the oscillatory member 3G. Levers 61are pivoted to the main frame 21 andareprovidedwith notches62 in thelower edges thereof, which notches are adapted to engage pins 63provided in the levers 59 for holdingthe same in their outermostpositions. It is apparent that when the notches 62 engage the pins 63'that the pawls 26 adjacent thereto are inv the inoperative position. 7

s: v1 2m w l be: pull dend of said levers being adapted to engage pins66 projecting laterally from oscillatory members 67 which members areprovided with peripheral teeth 68. hen the teeth 68 engage the mainframe 21 at the points 69 the small ends of levers 64 will be raised,and in order to depress one of said ends a tooth 68 must be moved to itsformer position by one of the levers 70. Each lever 70 is provided witha projecting pin 71 which engages a spring 72 for normally lIfi oldingsaid lever in position as shown in I n order that a lever 7 0 shall moveto engage a tooth 68 the pin 73 projecting laterally from a pawl 26 mustengage the lefthand side of the upper end thereof, and in order thatthis may be eii'ected the lever 53 must be raised to allow the pawls 26to move to the left.

As aforesaid the lever 53 is raised after the gate is fully opened so asto allow the pawls 26 at the right to engage the member 30 and tobe in aposition ready to close the gate. Supposing now that the gate is-closedby the actionof one of the pawls at the right, then it must also beopened by the pawl diametrically opposite or, in other words, by thesame train. The reason for this is evident since during each operativedown stroke of the pawl the pin 73 in its side engages and oscillatesthe lever 70. During the first stroke the lever 70 engages the tooth 68and oscillates the member 67 which oscillation causes the lever 64 toassume the position shown in Fig. t which causes the corresponding pawl26 to assume its operative position. The small end of the member 64:onthe other side of the member 30' will simply pass over thecorresponding member 61-. Thus the desired selective action is producedwith no interference of trains on tracks 1 and 2.

In order to explain the operation of the device, the cycle of operationswhich takes place as a train passes the gate on track 2 will now betraced. As the train approaches the gate in the direction of the arrowson Fig. 2 the corresponding track shoe is operated by the wheels of saidtrain to cause vertical reciprocations of pawl 26. Under theseconditions said pawl 26-:is free toengage the teeth 29 on theoscillatory member 30'to cause partial rotation thereof and consequentrotation of" shaft 34. to elevate the weight 36 and lower gate 17, untilthe center of gravity of weight 36 passes over the center of shaft 34,whereupon said weight will fall-to continue the movement of gate 17. Atthe first downward movement of said pawl 26 pin 73 passes to the left ofmember holding said member in such a position that the beveled side ofprojection 68 will contact with the lower end of member 70 to causerotation of member 67 and the setting of lever 64 in position to contactwith trigger member 61 near the end of the oscillatory movement ofmember 30. This elevates trigger 61 to release lever 59 and thus releasethe corresponding pawl 26 for engagement with oscillatory member 30. henthe train passes the gate, its wheels contacting with the correspondingtrack shoe 3 causes vertical reciprocations of said released pawl 26.During these reciprocations said released pawl 26 engaging with thecorresponding teeth 29 on the oscillatory member 30 causes rotation ofsaid oscillatory member to cause the elevation or opening of gate 17,the fall of the weight 36 serving to complete said movement of said gateas before. Near the end of this oscillation of member 30, member 58contacting with the upper end of lever 59 throws said lever outwardly tothrow the corresponding pawl 26 out of operative relation with teeth 29and said pawl is held in inoperative relation by the engagement of notch62 on trigger lever 61 with pin 63. At the first movement of member 30to effect the raising or opening of the gate projection 57 will haveactuated lever 50 to throw both of the pawls 26 on the correspondingside of member 30 out of operative relation where they will be held bytrigger arm 53 engaging wire 52 so as to permit of the opening orraising movement of member 30. Near the end of the opening movement ofmember 30, pin 56 contacting with trigger arm 53 to releasecorresponding pawls 26 and to render them operative, and atsubstantially the same time member 68 engaging shoulder 69 operateslever 54 to place the latter in inoperative position. This places theoperating parts in normal or initial position ready for anotheroperation through the same cycle upon a passage of a train over track 2in the direction indicated. The other side of oscillatory member 30 isprovided with duplicates of the parts already described which serve tocoperate with the corresponding pawls 26 to perform the same cycle ofoperations during the passage of a train over track No. 1 in theopposite direction to the passage of that over track No. 2. Thus it willbe observed that the passage of a train over either track in thedirections indicated will automatically close and open the gate toprevent accidents.

It will be noted that the foregoing described device is simple andeffective and that the movements are eflected by a minimum number ofparts.

While I have shown what I deem to be the preferable form of my improvedrailway gate I do not wish to be limited thereto as there might bevarious changes made in the details of construction and arrangement ofparts described without departing from the spirit of the invention, andhence I desire to .avail myself of such changes and modifications asfairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described, an oscillating shaft, a gatefixed thereto, a weight loosely mounted on said shaft, means on saidshaft for limiting the movement of said weight thereon, means actuatedfrom points remote from said gate for imparting initial movement to thegate and to shift said weight to complete the movement of the gate.

2. In a device of the class described, an oscillating shaft and a gatefixed thereto, in combination with a Weight loosely mounted on saidshaft, a pair of spaced arms fixed to said shaft and adapted to limitthe move ment of the weight thereon, means for imparting initialmovement to said gate and shaft to shift said weight whereby said weightshall complete the movement of the gate. I

3. In a device of the class described, an oscillating shaft, a gate*fixed thereto, a Weight, loosely mounted on said shaft, a pair of spacedarms fixed to said shaft, stops projecting from said weight and adaptedto engage said arms to limit the movement of the weight, and meansactuated from points remote from said gate for imparting initialmovement to said gate and for shifting said Weight.

4. In a device of the class described, an oscillating shaft, a gateoperatively con.- nected thereto, means for imparting a step by steprotation to said shaft in one direction from a point remote from saidgate and for imparting a like rotation in the opposite direction fromanother point remote from said gate, a double ratchet member fixed tosaid shaft, a pair of pawls arranged adjacent said ratchet, means forsimultaneously throwing either of said pawls into engagement with itsrespective ratchet and for disengaging the opposite pawl, and means onsaid shaft for shifting the pawl throwing means, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a device of the class described, an oscillating shaft, a gateoperatively connected thereto, means for imparting a step by steprotation to said shaft in one direction from a point remote from saidgate and for imparting a like rotation in the opposite direction fromanother point remote from said gate, a double ratchet member fixed tosaid shaft, a pair of pawls arranged adjacent said ratchet, a memberpivotally mounted adjacent, said pawlsand adapted in one position to.throw one of said, pawls into engagement, with. its respective ratchetand to disengage: the opposite pawl, and in another position to reversesaid pawls, and a pair of spaced members on said shaft adapted to engageand operate the pawl shiftin-gmemand means for disengaging one of saidpawls from its respective ratchets as the other pawl is thrown. intoengagement with its ratchet,

, substantially as described.

' 7. 1-11 a device of the class described, a

" pivotallymounted gate, an oscillating memher operatively, connectedthereto,oppositely disposed sets of ratchet teeth; formed on said memberupon opposite sides thereof, a pair of; reciprocating pawls arrangedadjacent each set of'ratchet teeth, means for actuating each of saidpawls independently from different points remote from, said gate, thepawls of one pair being adapted to operate singly to. close the gate andthe'pawls: of the other pair being *adapted to operate singly to open,the gate, means for throwing the gate closing pawls into and out ofoperative position: simultaneously, means for maintain: ing thegateopening pawls out of operative position when the gate closing pawls arein operative position, and selective means for throwing the gateopeningpawl: corresponding to the previously operated gate closing pawl intooperation as the gate closing pawls are thrown out of operation,substantially as described.

8. In a d'eviceof, the class described,, a railway track and;car-wheel-operated olevices; mounted adjacent thereto, a gate arrangedadjacentv said track, mechanism adapted to operate said gate, and, meansconnecting said devices with. said mechanism for controlling theoperation of the latter, each of said devices comprising a shoe pivotedto a. side of a rail of the track, a vertically disposed. link pivotedto said shoe, a bell-crank adapted to move in a vertical plane pivotedto said track and: to said link, a; link adapted to move in a horizontalplane pivoted to said. bell-crank, a second, bellr crank adapted to movein a horizontal plane pivoted to saidbellcrank, a second bell crankadapted, to move in a horizontal plane pivoted to said last. named.link, resilient means for normally maintaining; said shoe in ltshlghestposition, and a; stop to limit the upward movement of said shoeconsisting of the head of a screw which is secured in a. tie of' thetrack, said resilient means consisting of a compression springsurrounding said screw, substantially as described.

9. In a device of the class described, a gate operative mechanismcomprising a main frame, horizontally disposed rods slidably mounted insaid frame and projecting therefrom, bell-cranks pivoted in said frameand to said rods, substantially vertically disposed pawlsv pivoted tosaid bell-cranks, an oscillatory member mounted in said frame having asegment gear and ratchet teeth on the periphery thereof, said teethbeing adapted to engage said pawls, resilient means adapted tonormallypress said pawls into engagement with said. teeth, stop pawls adapted toprevent retrograde movement of said oscillatory member after the same ismoved by said vertical, pawls, a spur gear and shaft therefor mounted insaid frame in meshwith said segment gear, and a sectorformed oscillatoryweight mounted on said last named shaft,,substantially as described.

10; In a device of the class described, a gate operativemechanismcomprising a main frame, four horizontally disposed rods slidablymounted in said frame and. projecting therefrom, four bell-crankspivoted in said frame and to said rods, four substantially verticallydisposed pawls pivoted to said bellcranks, an oscillatory member mountedin said frame having a segment gear and ratchet teeth on. the peripherythereof, said teetlr being. adapted to engage said pawls, resilientmeans adapted to normally press said pawls into engagement wlth saidteeth, a stop pawl mechanism adapted to prevent retrograde movement ofsaid oscillatory member, a spur gear and shaft therefor mounted in saidframe in mesh with said segment gear, an oscillatory weight mounted onsaid last named shaft, two of said vertical pawls being adapted toengage said oscillatory member diametrically opposite the other two, andmeans for disengaging one of said last named pawls when a diametricallyopposite pawl is positioned to engage said oscillatory member,substantially as described.

11. In a device of the class described, a gate opening and closingmechanism comprising: a main frame, reciprocatory rods mounted: in saidframe, an oscillatory member having gear and ratchet teeth formed intheperiphery thereof, pawls connected with said rods and adapted toengage said ratchet teeth for oscillating said member, a shaftjourna-ledin said frame carrying said oscillatory member, said ratchet teeth beingin two series which are arranged diametrically opposite on the peripheryof said 0soillatory member, the teeth of one series being disposedopposite to those of the other,

means for releasing the engagement of said In testimony whereof I havesigned pawls engaging one series of ratchet teeth bename to thisspecification in the presence of fore the pawls adapted to engage theother tWo subscribing Witnesses. series of teeth are in engagement, anda gate WILLIAM E. GEDDES. pivotally mounted in said frame in 'opera-Witnesses:

tive connection with said gear teeth, sub- HELEN F. LILLIs,

stantially as described. JOSHUA R. H. Po'r'rs.

